European Schoolnet has recently started a new Knowledge Alliance project, ITELab (Initial Teachers Education Lab), between higher education institutions and industry to foster innovation and knowledge exchange in initial/pre-service teacher education (ITE). The project is co-funded under the European Commission's Erasmus+ Programme from January 2017 to December 2019.

Universities and companies will come together in ITELab and work with Ministries of Education, national ICT agencies, regional education authorities and other stakeholders (participating as Associate Partners) to address the issues of how student teachers currently receive training on the pedagogical use of ICT, and the mainstreaming of innovative pedagogical practice that involves ICT.

The new ITE University-Industry Forum that will be put in place during the project, will work with a wider group of stakeholders online and in three annual Capacity Development Workshops to establish and sustain this as a permanent network under the independently funded European Schoolnet Future Classroom Lab initiative.

The ITELab project enables organisations to participate as unfunded Associate Partners. Associate Partners do not participate in project General Assembly meetings or do not have voting rights but ITELab aims to have an active engagement with a wide range of different stakeholders who have an interest in initial teacher education.

To learn more about the project and how to become an Associate Partner, please visit the ITELab website: http://itelab.eun.org/

Rethinking teaching and learning

The Future Classroom Lab is created by European Schoolnet, its supporting 30 ministries and industry partners to help visualise how conventional classrooms and other learning spaces can be easily reorganised to support changing styles of teaching and learning.